Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 1: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear plea of Shiv Sena chief whip Sunil Prabhu on July 11, seeking to suspend Eknath Shinde, the chief minister of Maharashtra, and 15 dissident MLAs from the assembly.
Senior attorney Kapil Sibal argued on behalf of Prabhu before a vacation bench made up of Justices Surya Kant and J. B. Pardiwala that the interim plea required an urgent hearing because disqualification procedures against 16 MPs, including the chief minister, were still pending.
On July 11, when the primary argument of 16 dissident Shiv Sena MLAs against the disqualification letters issued by the Deputy Speaker would be heard, the bench stated that it was ‘well mindful of the problem’ and will look into it.
“We will definitely look into the issue. It is not that we are not conscious of it. Let us see what procedures are being adopted. If the procedure is defective then please file an affidavit, we will consider that also,” the bench said.
On June 27, the court’s vacation bench provided temporary respite to the Eknath Shinde group by extending until July 12 the deadline for responses to the disqualification notifications delivered to 16 dissident Sena MLAs.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government rushed to the top court to ask for the floor test’s postponement after the Maharashtra governor ordered one on June 29.
The bench declined to overturn the governor’s order for the 31-month-old MVA administration to conduct a floor test in the Assembly to demonstrate its majority, which led to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray resigning under pressure.
On June 30, the day Shinde took office as chief minister, Prabhu filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking for the suspension of Shinde and 15 rebels on a variety of reasons, claiming that they are “acting as pawns of the BJP, thereby committing the fundamental sin of defection.”
